Boys golf: Ottawa continues to roll, captures third-straight Streator Invitational championship

STREATOR — The Ottawa boys golf squad has picked up where it left off this season after its run to the state finals last fall ... and then some.

The Pirates opened the season by finishing fourth at the prestigious Prep Tour High School Showcase in Bloomington, then followed with wins at the Belvidere North Ryder Cup and La Salle-Peru Invitational.

On Monday at Eastwood Golf Course, the boys in Red and White continued to march on, winning the Streator Invitational for the third straight time after posting an eye-popping 298 team score to comfortably defeat runner-up Prairie Central (333) and third-place La Salle-Peru (336). Illinois Valley Central (338) finished fourth, Streator (344) fifth, Coal City (357) sixth and Olympia (387) eighth.

Individually, Ottawa senior Jonathan Cooper and junior Drake Kaufman each registered 2-under 70s, with Kaufman claiming the title after a scorecard playoff.

“I won a scorecard playoff over [Drake] last year at Illinois Valley Central, so I guess we’re even,” Cooper said with a smile.

“I felt like I played the par-5s well, hung in there on them and finished two- or three-under on them, but I didn’t play the par-4s as well as I would have liked. I think my iron play, especially the short iron, was decent and probably the best part of my game today.

“There is always a shot here and there that you would like a chance to do over again when you think back about your round, but I guess overall today I had a pretty steady round with not too many ups and downs to get too high or low about.”

Ottawa’s Seth Cooper (77) finished tied for fifth, and Chandler Creedon (81) tied for 10th. Jacob Armstrong carded an 86, and Alex Billings had an 89.

The Cavaliers received a 76 – good for fourth place – from senior Carter Fenza.

“I started out pretty rough by bogeying the first two holes but came back right away with a birdie.” Fenza said. “Getting that birdie was a huge momentum shift for sure and brought back my confidence moving forward. I was able to put a really nice par streak together in the middle of the round and lipped out a seven-foot eagle putt on my final hole, which was a little bit of a bummer. I feel like my drives were solid all day long, and that gave me some good looks on chips to the green.

“I can always do better, but other than the first couple holes, I felt I played a solid round.”

La Salle-Peru also saw Coleman Rundle (77) tie for fifth, followed by Jon Milota (90), Michael Milota (93), Noah Rietgraf (96) and Riley Cetwinski (102).

The host Bulldogs were paced by junior Jaydon Nambo, who shot a 78 to finish in seventh place, just in front of Cole Park (81), who placed tied for 10th.

“I had a great front nine and was 1-under with a few holes to play then had a double bogey which kind of messed everything up,” Nambo said with a shake of the head. “I had a bad drive on that hole, then went into the sand, then two-putted. It was frustration after playing so well up to that point.

“Taking away that hole, I’m pretty happy with how I played. I was able to play a couple holes here that I’ve struggled on better than I have in the past.

“I feel like the first couple weeks of the season I’ve been playing well. I know I need to continue to work on my mental game with chipping, but the rest of my game is going well.”

Streator also counted scores from Kylen Krasnican (91) and Nolan Ketchman (94), with Drew Donahue posting a 97 and Cooper Spears a 106.

Coal City’s Dylan Brown finished just out of the top 10 with his 83, which was followed by Jack Varnak (89), Ryne Phalen (90), Ryland Megyeri (95), Luke Carter (96) and Culan Lindemuth (111).